כתיבת תכנית חינוכית יחידנית )תח"י(: מקורות קושי ומסוגלות עצמית

Abstract

Writing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for special needs students who
are integrated into regular education / in inclusive settings is a Ministry of
Education requirement dictated by the Law of Special Education, 1988 and
constitutes an integral part of special education teachers’ routine.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 special education teachers
from the Arab sector in the central and southern regions who teach elementary
students diagnosed with learning disorders, and whose seniority ranges between
three and 20 years. The data were analyzed by means of a content analysis,
yielding several categories. The paper will discuss some of the categories that
represent sources of difficulty and aspects of self-efficacy.
The findings attest to a number of difficulties experienced by the teachers when
writing IEPs: (1) communication difficulties with the staff and parents; (2)
difficulties in obtaining relevant written material and documents; (3) personal
difficulties with writing associated with the physical and organizational structure
of the school. An important characteristic that came to the fore in the content
analysis was the level of importance the teacher ascribed to writing the IEP and
his\her attitude toward it. The findings show that the teachers who reported a high
level of self-efficacy as regards their ability to write IEPs also ascribed great
importance and significance to writing IEPs, perceiving it as an inseparable part
of their everyday work. Additional findings reflecting implications to the theory
and research in the field will be presented.